Rise Up Hungarian! by Janos Thorma, precise date uncertain, between 1898 and 1937.

Rise Up (After Thorma)

The old buildings witness the revolutionin the square.They retain their style, somepull it tightly around themfor the future.What of the slush-coveredpaving stones which connect them?Stamped by the angry,the jubilant, the speech-listeners,the rabble roused.

The old buildings hold aloftthe dignity in remembrance,in the knowledge that outcomesare a fair market, unpredictable,that only time consecrates, andthey hold much of that in theirpockets – basements, foundations,window frames and the tiles ofcanted roofs. So many thick hiddenbeams.

Their calm is taken as tacitsupport. And now the emptyspaces in the square are leanedupon, and suddenly demand filling,suddenly demand action. As ifsome greatness hidden there. Themajesty transmission of facades,now intercepted.

But the buildings make no loans,none which can be redeemed.Politics are borrowed, yes, and lives,too; steel remelted, scorched cropsbecome rich, fecund land. Still the hallowedcannot hallow, that is their grace,is grace.

The commotion below, in the square –something about motion is juvenile,moments are distractions, too sweet.And emotions true, but only to themselves,and to others of their kind. Yet eventshave their queer necessity.

The buildings, too, could be knownas risings. Now they witness the rebellionat their feet, but never pause theircelebration, the long fête of being.

The buildings, the old buildingswatch the revolution in the square.

Patrick Cole

Patrick Cole: "Poetry of mine has appeared recently in The Heron Tree, Arsenic Lobster and New Verse News. Other of my work has been published in the Writing That Risks anthology (http://amzn.to/18BlCtw), Rivet, Cosmonaut Avenue, and The Conium Review. My work has appeared in numerous other literary journals, including Parcel (a Pushcart Prize nominee), High Plains Literary Review (also a Pushcart Prize nominee), Agni online, Nimrod International, 34th Parallel, and turnrow. A one-act play of mine was a finalist in the Knock International Play Competition and was produced in Seattle."

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